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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Jesus said, "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matt. 6:17-18). UPDATED: So it's not just me ...

Saturday, March 5, 2011

If you are waiting for Jim Wallis' Orange Revolution, "no longer just an ad; it's a campaign," to spread to the Huffington Post, well, it could be a long wait. Hunter Bakerwrites: "What Jim Wallis is saying comes from a good heart. He is worried about things like fairness and, of course, about helping people. But the reasoning he employs in doing so assumes that federal programs actually achieve what they set out to do, which is far from obvious, and that they don’t create incentives for behavior that results in greater problems ..." I'm enough of a Calvinist to wonder at this estimation of Wallis' or anyone's "good heart," including my own, but the "real" realism of Baker's point seems to be inexplicably lost on certain self-designated doves among us.It is worth remembering that Jesus did not simply say, "just as you did it to the least of these;" he qualified this by adding, "who are members of my family" (Matthew 25:40). Furthermore, he did not say, "just as your state or national government did it;" he said, "just as you did it ..."In short, preachers should not promote the idea that political action for the government to act as a moral surrogate for the church is a suitable substitute for personal responsibility. Neither should we perpetuate the shallow, moralistic assumption that Jesus makes no distinction between the pagans who are the ones being judged in this oft-quoted oracle and the members of Jesus' family (his baptized brothers and sisters who are born of the will and the Spirit of God), whose treatment at the hands of the pagans is the criteria by which the pagans are deemed sheep or goats. In other words, the kingdom and the family of God do not operate according to the humanistic ideal of "the brotherhood of man," but according to clear (and superior) spiritual criteria laid out for us in scripture.

Surely, those who do the will of the heavenly Father are Jesus' brothers and sisters and mother (Matt 12:50), and it is by all means the will of God that his family members show compassion for the poor. But apparently even "God's preferential option for the poor" has its limits (see Ex 23:2-3; Lev 19:15).

It is tempting to say that, once again, the lectionary has failed us, but for the fact that at least Leviticus 19:15 is actually in the RCL! What is failing is rather our ability to exercise wise, careful, and judicious discernment, to "judge with right judgement" (Jn 7:24). UPDATE: Umm, evidently Jim has never readJoel 3:10.

Friday, March 4, 2011

In light of the way Miroslav Volf frames his perhaps too simplistic ultimatum at the end of this article, it seems he speaks in the spirit of those who "say, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace" (Jer 6:14; 8:11; cf. Ezek 13:10). But when will we finally begin to listen to what Jesus has to say (see, e.g., John 16:1-4) about where history is going?

Maybe the question we should ask is: Why are we asking such silly questions, as though Jesus "would" be hoping for an appointment (by whom, exactly?) to the OMB, or the Federal Reserve, or the US Treasury, "if" he were here with us, that is.

Good grief! What presuppositions lie behind all permutations of the question, "What 'would' Jesus do?"

So, that's $48 billion + $510 billion ... Hey! If we would permit him to "round up," Jesus "would" soon be on his way to trimming one of those 14 trillions of dollars that we have spent but do not have. But thank God he is quick to give the gift of repentance to those who ask him!

I appreciate the conciliatory intent of this article, but I confess I tend to disembark whenever any pastor is deemed a "super star." Much as I think the term cheesy and trivializing when applied to Jesus, it seems pretty clear the church already has the only one she needs.